In the Rain
by Foenix Nightshade
Summary: The rain was ceaseless, tears of the angels that mourned with him. He wanted to die, truly die. He had no will, no right to live after what he had done.


Water fell mercilessly from the sky, tears of angels mourning along with the boy. No passer-by would be able to tell the rain from his tears. If there was to be any passer-by, but there was not, and there never would be. Ever again. He forced his head up to the sky, staring at the dark clouds overhead.

"Why?" he demanded. His voice was thick and hoarse. As he continued to speak, though, his voice strengthened. "Why?! What did I do? What did I ever do to deserve this?!" He stood up, defying the storm, the grief, as lightning flared angrily. "They were innocent! They did nothing! They were – they were…" His brief rage bating, he collapsed again, leaning his back against the stone statue, ignoring the pain it brought. "They were my friends," he said quietly. "My family…" Again, he glared defiantly at the heavens. "And you just had to take them, didn't you? _Didn't you?!_"

His breath was ragged, staggering. He wrapped his arms around his legs, sinking his head down rest on his knees. He let his white hair fall to cover his eyes. If he could, he would just turn intangible and sink forever into the ground. But Fate was against him. His power was out of reach. He was completely drained.

When he first saw himself in the mirror earlier, he thought he was still in his ghost form, but that was not the case. For some strange reason, his hair had turned white even in his human form. It was a small wonder in the back of his mind, but nothing really took his mind off of what had happened only hours ago. He didn't want to think about it. The memory was too painful, too real. Why hadn't he stopped it?

He hated himself. No…truthfully, he loathed himself. He should have done _something_. But no. All he did was sit idly by while his friends and family were murdered. He did _nothing_. And for that, he hated his very existence.

Hours later, the sound of a car pulling up close by did not make him stir. He didn't hear a door open and close, nor the sound of the footsteps coming close to him.

It was a long time before there was any other sound. "Daniel?" The miserable child hugged his knees tighter. This man was the last he wished to see. "Daniel," the voice said again. He sounded so kind. Completely different from what he knew from previous encounters. "We should get out of the rain." Another long silence between the man and the boy fills the air. Only the occasional distant thunder reminds them of the existence of sound. "Daniel,…come home with me."

He reached for the white-haired child, but he pulled away as if the man was a virus. "Leave. Me. Alone, Vlad," he ordered. He turned his back to the older and descended deeper into his hatred and misery.

"Daniel…please, I implore you. You'll catch your death out here."

"Good," he replied abruptly. "It's better than dealing with you."

"Daniel." His voice held a slight edge of reprove, but sounded more genuinely concerned. _Oh, goody, my arch-enemy actually cares, _the boy thought sarcastically. "Daniel…I want what is best for you. Do you really wish for your parents to have died in vain? Or your friends?"

"Don't talk about them like you know them!" He directed all of his hatred and fury at his fellow halfa. Tears of pain and rage fell ceaselessly as he glared, teeth grinding together. "My parents died because of a mistake I made. Sam and Tucker died because of my poor judgment. _Jazz_ died because I did something stupid. _Again._" He slumped, his energy and will disappearing in an instant. He couldn't take this. Why wouldn't Vlad just go ahead and kill him now? Or did he want it to be slow and painful? Make him live in his misery…how…unoriginal. "They paid for what I did…so I deserve to die as well," he claimed in a whisper.

He lifted his head with another glare. "So just kill me already, okay?!"

Thunder crashed just overhead, a symphony streaked with bursts of lightning. The man waited until it was quieted some. "Daniel, I don't want to kill you." The boy glared, all his hatred filling that gaze. _Yeah, right._ "I just want you to come home with me, out of the rain. We'll have a cup of something warm and then figure out what to do."

"Oh, yeah, like hot cocoa and a plan fixes everything," he said sarcastically. "Thanks, but no thanks. Just leave me alone." He lowered his head again, returning to mournful silence.

The older man sighed. "I really didn't want to do this, Danny." His voice was too quiet for the younger to hear. He reached over and placed a gentle hand on the back of his neck. It took only a small amount of energy to make him sleep. He picked the younger up tenderly and carried him to his car, setting him in the front passenger seat and fastening the seatbelt before sliding into the driver's seat himself and turning the key in the ignition. Then he drove away. Away from the statue, away from the storm. He left the town soon enough, and, eventually, he drove out of the state, leaving it – and the memories it held – far behind.

**First Danny Phantom story…Well, technically, it's a one-shot, but just like with "Just a Thief," it may end up a full fledged story. Maybe.**

**So, I've recently started watching DP, but the charge cord for my computer broke. The part that plugs into the computer snapped somehow. So every once in a while, it powers down and I have to take it inside to charge. I was in the middle of the first season finale (I think; the one with the ghost king and such) when it shut down. I was so ticked…**

**ON the other note, I plan to get my next chapter of Chronicles of Internet Earth up before the weekend. I'm going out of town for some Eeyore's birthday party thing. I'm supposed to wear a costume, but I got nothing. Any ideas?  
**

**Anywho, any thoughts, questions, comments? Feel free to leave a review!**

**I thank each and every one of you who has read this.**

**Keep rockin'**

**~Foenix Nightshade~**


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